Irish inn, pub opens for big day (L-R): Managers Dennis and Jennifer Radtke along with developers Christine and Rip O'Dwanny cut the ribbon during the grand opening of St. Brendan's Inn Tuesday (photo by H. Marc Larson). The St. Brendan's Inn project marks city, DNR cooperation By Ray Barrington News-Chronicle It's not often a new business opens with a chorus of "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling," led by the owner, followed by a speaker from the Department of Natural Resources on brownfield reclamation. Both were appropriate for the ribbon-cutting at St. Brendan's Inn, 234 S. Washington St., on Tuesday. The pub and boutique hotel has been open quietly for a few days for a test run, but on the day before St. Patrick's Day, it was time for an official celebration. The building is one of two on the land once occupied by the city's transit garage. Because of the underground fuel tanks and other contaminants, the site was listed as a brownfield site, allowing help from the DNR to study the problem and clean it up. The city used $485,000 in Sustainable Urban Development Zone funding for environmental investigation and cleanup before turning it over to developers for the inn and the Johnson Bank building. "Now we have a pub here with 'suds' of its own," punned Laurie Egre, the DNR's SUDZ program coordinator. There's still a little work to be done, especially on the outside, where landscaping will wait for better weather. Inside, however, the bar was ready with pints of ale and stout. The pub area is decorated with sayings in Gaelic and English ("The pub is the poor man's university," read one.) An area called "the bog snug" sits around a fireplace, and on one wall is "St. Brendan's Prayer" and an iconic portrait of the inn's namesake. St. Brendan the Navigator, explained Rip O'Dwanny, CEO of Harp & Eagle, the Milwaukee company that owns the facility, spent seven years at sea and seemed an appropriate symbol for a riverfront building. The saint lived to be 93 and died in 577. "He founded monastic sites, and there's information that has come out in the last few years that indicated he may be the first European to set foot in America," O'Dwanny said. "Archeologists have found writings on the eastern shore in Virginia, and those writings were only in evidence in Ireland between the sixth and eighth centuries." He joked that he hoped the "wee people" would bring magic to a city known for its big football players. O'Dwanny said he did look at other sites but only seriously considered downtown. "I wanted to be downtown. The courthouse and city hall are here and major businesses are downtown. We're very successful in our other downtown locations in Milwaukee and Plymouth," he said, adding the number of residents who lived close to downtown added to its lure. "Rip didn't require a great deal of courting - we just sang along when he told us to," joked Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce president Paul Jadin. The pub will be open at 10 a.m. today for St. Patrick's Day. It will start serving lunch and dinner Thursday and plans are to open the 28 rooms in the inn by the end of the month. The inn is being touted not only as a business stopover but as a destination for vacationers. "People who want to get away for a weekend will actually come here. I think they'll be pleased," O'Dwanny said. The rooms feature double whirlpool baths and walk-in rainfall showers, and were decorated by O'Dwanny's wife Christine. Dennis and Jennifer Radtke are the local managers. Scheduled restaurant hours will be 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. The pub will remain open until 2 a.m.